Weber, who scored two goals and logged 22:32 of ice time in Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre, took a therapy day Wednesday, while Drouin is now battling a virus after missing the last three games with a lower-body injury.

The Canadiens, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday night, are back in action Thursday when the Calgary Flames visit the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690). The Flames (14-12-2) lost 2-1 to the Maple Leafs in a shootout Wednesday night before heading to Montreal.

Canadiens coach Claude Julien said after practice Wednesday that Drouin’s lower-body injury had probably healed enough for him to play Thursday night, but now the virus could sideline him.

“Our goal was probably at the possibility of tomorrow … now that’s a question mark right now because of him being sick,” the coach said. “We still have to see how all that comes around in the next day.”

Drouin has 5-12-17 totals in 25 games this season and is minus-8.

Julien confirmed after practice that Carey Price will make his seventh straight start in goal against the Flames. Price allowed four goals on 30 shots against the Blues to suffer his first loss in six games since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for 10 games. Price now has a 8-8-1 record with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.

“I think I’ve said before I don’t really pay too much attention to stats,” Price said after Wednesday’s practice. “I’m just trying to kind of take it game by game as usual.

When asked if there is a lesson the Canadiens can learn from the loss to the Blues — during which they allowed St. Louis to score twice during a seven-second span in the second period — Price said: “You have to play 60 minutes. Obviously, the first part of the second (period) wasn’t our best. If we can put together a complete 60 minutes every game then I think we’ll be happy with the result most nights.”

The Canadiens have now allowed the opposition to score two goals in less than a minute 10 times this season.

“I think we’re past that stage, personally,” Julien said after the game about his team’s bad habit of allowing quick goals. “We don’t need to go back there in my estimation. It was two quick goals and both of them were mental mistakes. It wasn’t about getting discouraged … they were mental mistakes. We take ownership of that, but the way we’ve been playing lately we knew being down 3-1 we still had an opportunity.”

The Canadiens remained in the third and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division despite Tuesday’s loss with a 13-13-3 record, one point ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins (12-9-4), who have four games in hand. The Bruins were off Wednesday and play host to the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night.

You can watch Julien’s full post-practice news conference from Brossard on the HI/O Facebook page.

The lines

With Weber and Drouin missing, here’s how the Canadiens’ lines and defence pairings looked at Wednesday’s practice:

Lehkonen back on ice

Artturi Lehkonen, who has missed the last 11 games with a lower-body injury, skated Wednesday for the first time since playing against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 11.

Lehkonen skated with head athletic therapist Graham Rynbend on the second rink in Brossard in the morning before his teammates practised. Lehkonen, who has 2-3-5 totals in 18 games, tried to play through his injury before being shut down.

Pacioretty in scoring slump

Captain Max Pacioretty was the only Canadiens forward not to get a point in their 10-1 romp over the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday at the Bell Centre and he was held off the scoresheet again Tuesday night against the Blues. Pacioretty, who has 8-8-16 totals for the season, has only one goal in his last 11 games.

“I think at the end of the day, he does a lot of good things,” Julien said about Pacioretty after practice Wednesday. “I remember the one game here (recently) that we won where he made that winning goal happen with his forecheck, turning the puck over behind the net. He’s been great on the penalty-kill and all that stuff.

“I know that sometimes we look at goal-scorers and because they have X amount of goals every year that’s what we’re looking at,” the coach added. “But I think Max is doing a lot of good things other than what we’re talking about right now. He’s also a guy that when pucks start going in for him, they’re coming in bunches. So I would expect that at some point to happen as well. When you’re not capable or you’re not lucky enough to do the things that you like to do, I think it’s important for a player to really focus on the other things, too, and not let that slip. I think he’s doing a lot of good things out there. When it comes to goal-scoring, probably not where he wants it to be and probably not where he’d like it to be but, at the same time, we’re looking at a bigger picture than that right now.

“He’s still leading our team, I think, in shots in scoring chances,” Julien continued. “He’s leading our team in those areas, they just haven’t probably been going in as much as they have in the past.”

Pacioretty does lead the Canadiens in shots with 121, but has only a 6.6 per cent shooting percentage. Brendan Gallagher ranks second on the Canadiens in shots with 90 and has a team-leading 13 goals with a 14.44 per cent shooting percentage.

What’s next?

The Canadiens have cancelled a scheduled morning skate Thursday in Brossard before facing the Flames, which is becoming a trend recently on game days with Julien. The Canadiens will practise at 11 a.m. Friday in Brossard and then the Edmonton Oilers will be at the Bell Centre Saturday (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690). After that, the Canadiens don’t play again until next Thursday when the New Jersey Devils visit the Bell Centre.